Millennials replacing engagement rings with diamonds embedded in their fingers



NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. - There’s a new trend in engagement rings.

Instead of a diamond ring around your finger, a diamond is embedded IN your finger, WCBS reports.

“We notice lately a lot of people coming looking for that,” Sam Abbas, who owns NYC Ink Studio in the West Village, said.

Apparently, some millennials are ditching the usual engagement ring and instead piercing their ring fingers.

“I think it looks nice, but if you really think what it’s doing to the body – and you can have scarring – it’s so many complications that can happen from it,” Cynthia Rivas said.

Abbas said there could be problems if the person doesn’t take care of the piercing, such as cleaning it two to three times a day and making sure the piercing artist has experience.

“You’re dealing with the blood, so you got to be very, very safe,” he said. “What we do, we sterilize everything.”

A piercing artist marks the spot with a pen, cleans with alcohol and iodine, uses a tool to remove a small patch of skin, and then inserts an anchor made of titanium or gold, which holds the gem, Hsu reported.

The whole process takes about 10 minutes and costs around $100 for the piercing. The diamond you choose is a separate cost.

As for the pain?

“You’re going to feel it. You’re getting pierced. It is a little bit painful. But people did it, and I have a lot of people who say, ‘Oh nice, it’s nothing, I expect more,” said Abbas.

Dermatologist Dr. Monica Halem told Hsu she has some concerns.

“First of all, these procedures are not being done by a doctor, and it is a surgical procedure,” she said. “There are a lot of important structures that sit right under the skin there that can easily be damaged, like tendons.”

There’s also the danger of the diamond snagging.

“That’s sitting right above the skin, that’s easily caught on something and can do a lot of damage,” said Halem.

She said you should think carefully before going for the new trend.

Healing from this kind of piercing can take up to 20 weeks. If you want the diamond removed, that’s possible but more painful than the initial piercing.